A Tale of Two Tragedies Read online

gone forever. To him, the loss was too great to bear. He began a loop of reasoning in his mind that he was unable to step out of.

  “But isn’t it the same thing that happened to you?”

  —True. But he couldn’t see the importance of getting over it.

  “How were you able to, while he wasn’t?”

  The dragon paused to gather his thoughts. By the amount of time he took, they appeared voluminous. Then he said, —I believe it was because of my focus. To me, God was most important. But to Wisearlyon-Ozooka, the gift God had given him was most important. Or rather, I should say, the gift he lost. He drove himself crazy over it.

  “What exactly did he consider the gift to be?”

  —Everything to do with his mate. He cherished above all else Phillylanor-Falonday. She and all four of the offspring that would’ve come had not the circle of descendants been broken, meant more to him than life itself. He truly could not bear to lose this.

  “Yet you could?”

  —Angel Hannah . . . The dragon, once again distraught over the memory, paused to compose himself. After a time he continued.

  —When I lost Teleannie-Teleena, instantly I cried to the Lord. I cried, ‘God, God, God, no! Wisearlyon-Ozooka felt it. All the dragons felt it. I was the first to suffer this loss, and having never happened before, I only knew to cry out to God.

  —Wisearlyon-Ozooka had time to fret. He thought about how he’d feel if something like it happened to him. When it did, he went in an entirely different direction than I had. That what he worried about actually happened might have had something to do with how he eventually reacted.

  Hannah stood before the dragon, a lone sentinel bidding respect and condolences for an ancient tragedy. She didn’t speak for quite some time. When she finally did, it was with the utmost of respect.

  “Do you know what eventually happened to Wisearlyon-Ozooka?”

  It was almost as if the dream-sphere of the dragon nodded again, and turned to gaze at the earth. When he spoke, the words sounded far away.

  —The war lasted for centuries. It was hard for humans to fight him, especially when he exercised caution. But there came about a certain king who thought he could draw out Wisearlyon-Ozooka by taunting him. So he instructed his army to mock Wisearlyon-Ozooka if ever they found the chance.

  “And they did?”

  —Of course. It was bound to happen. Hunting parties would journey out to look for him all over the world. It held rapt the attention of ancient man for centuries.

  “Didn’t they come across the rest of you?”

  —We fled into the overlap as soon as the hunt became widespread.

  “Could you still communicate with Wisearlyon-Ozooka?”

  —Yes, but from the overlap, only by dreaming.

  “Would he ever come to see you?”

  —No. Because we refused to join his war against men, he shunned us.

  Stunned by the wrongness of it, Hannah could only shake her head. After a moment she said, “He became the epitome of a one man army.”

  —Yes, unfortunately. Because he fought alone and had to make the most of his time, he always did reconnaissance while dreaming. But it also made him vulnerable. It would have taken men much longer to get him if they wouldn’t have enraged him, which made him careless.

  Taking no joy in the question Hannah said, “How did it finally happen?”

  —After they found out they could taunt him, it became a permanent fixture in their armies. Somehow, they had caught on to the fact he could see them secretly. Probably one of the ancient sorcerers figured it out. So they never ceased to torment him.

  “I find it curious they didn’t fear having him enraged at them.”

  —They made a contest out of it. They strove to see who could hate him and insult him the most. Their hatred helped to block Wisearlyon-Ozooka’s telepathy.

  “Did he use it in battle?”

  —It was one of his main weapons. He would wreak havoc with it on green recruits.

  Hannah’s eyebrows shot up.

  —He would send them the thought of fire and burning. The fearful ones would often become overwhelmed. Every once in a while some poor soul would even spontaneously combust.

  “From Wisearlyon-Ozooka’s telepathy?”

  —It only worked when a soldier became hysterical and actually believed he was on fire. That’s also how it became a contest. Since everyone knew by the look on a recruits face when he gave into fear, it was standard procedure to chide new recruits and say only the weak were afraid.

  “Courage didn’t guarantee survival though, did it?”

  —By no means. The attrition rate was astounding. But that only fueled the rulers demands for more soldiers. With the race of man temporarily at peace with itself, they could afford joining forces to fight the ‘Great Dragon.’

  “How did they ever expect to win?”

  —Their strategy evolved. At first they just experimented. The only thing that would usually reach him was arrows. They used poisonous ones, but he built up an immunity to that. They knew they had to catch him on the ground, but to do that, they had to sneak up on him. Of course, that didn’t work very well. But Wisearlyon-Ozooka would wipe out so many villages, the soldiers had to chase him to try and keep him away. A lot of crimes by wicked soldiers were blamed on Wisearlyon-Ozooka. Which in turn only fueled the rulers cries for more soldiers.

  —It was a couple of centuries before they figured out he could see them. Then they put two and two together and tried to draw him out. It was only a few short years after they began tormenting him until they were able to injure him so he couldn’t fly. When that injury happened, it spelled his doom. After they got his wing, he only lasted three more days.

  Hannah lamented, “It must have been terrible for you. To watch him suffer and die.”

  —The worst thing about it was he became enraged at us in the end, saying we abandoned him. As death approached, he could tell we were about him, in our dream-spheres. It took many soldiers to finally kill him.

  “What overpowered him?”

  —In the land that would one day be called China, rockets were invented specifically to use against him. While flying in the heat of battle, one of their exploding rockets got his wing.

  “Did he fall out of the sky?”

  —He was able to slow his decent enough to not cause further injury when he crash landed. But he was never able to fly again.

  Hannah shook her head as sorrow flowed from her.

  —Immediately he headed for the coast. If he could’ve made it to the ocean, he probably would have gotten away. But they guessed he would try that, and they cut him off.

  “How could they cut him off? Couldn’t he still outrun a horse?”

  —He could still run faster than a horse, but the soldiers were clever. They had developed a signal corps.

  “What kind of signal corps?”

  —They used giant kites. Relay post were set up within eyesight of each other. When they needed to exchange messages, they pulled a giant kite into the air behind a galloping horse. Though the various messages were primitive, they still conveyed Wisearlyon-Ozooka was fleeing to the ocean.

  —By the time he got to the coast, a small army waited for him. He fought as hard as he could to break through and many, many men died, but in the end, Wisearlyon-Ozooka perished.

  Her countenance sorrowful, anguish in her eyes, Hannah said, “It is such a terrible waste. It’s as if he threw his life away. I understand why this wound has not healed.”

  Again she extended her arm, reaching out to touch the dream-sphere. Then she bowed her head. “I release the love of heaven upon you. I extend the comfort of heaven to you. I speak the healing power of Eternal God in heaven for you, right now. I proclaim healing and comfort to all dragons.” Slowly she lifted her hand.

  —Thank you, angel Hannah. Your prayer is deeply appreciated. I will share your comfo
rt with the dragons. They will all be grateful for your prayer and I shall never forget it.

  Seeming to turn back to her, his sorrow put away in that strange way where it dissipates suddenly, the ancient creature said, —But enough of my troubles. Didn’t angels also suffer?

  Shock would have been the best description of her reaction to his sudden inquiry if she had not of had prescience to give her forewarning. As it was, it looked like it was the first time she didn’t want to explain something she’d been asked to explain. Then her countenance grew sad. Though she didn’t act ashamed, she did look like she wished to avert something that had gone wrong a long, long time ago. And had yet to figure out how.

  The same event must have grieved, disappointed and saddened her. The kind of event one considers an unnecessary or even unacceptable loss. Something one prefers not talking about. Or even—if possible—not remembering. Thus the extended pause that elapsed before she said anything only served to make her words weightier.

  “Ah, Ackseekcelong-Sayessa . . . our struggles . . . the struggles of all the angels . . . they are much different than what the dragons suffered. You suffered murder. We could wish that is all we suffered. To me, it seems our tribulation is worse than if a vast number of angels had been slain.”

  Reacting to her statement, the dream-sphere appeared to turn, though no facet or feature of it might display such a movement.

  Hannah put her hands up, pleading. “I know, I know. Angels aren’t given in life-bonding. Besides which, there are infinitely more angels than dragons, so there really isn’t any way to